Manchester residents help police nab alleged prowlers

July 15. 2013 9:17PMMANCHESTER — Police credited alert residents with helping city officers apprehend suspects in two separate car-looting sprees in the city early Monday morning.

In one case, two men detained one of the suspects until police arrived to take him into custody.

Police said two men saw a man later identified as Joseph Gagne, 21, of Manchester breaking into a vehicle on Varney Street at about 1:40 a.m. Monday. The men told police they saw Gagne entering a vehicle in the driveway when they grabbed him.

Officers said Gagne was found with a number of items, including a portable video game and bottles of cologne.

Police said they determined Gagne’s inventory had been taken from cars in the neighborhood and charged him with receiving stolen property and prowling.

In the second case, a resident called police at about 3 a.m. to report that a man was going through cars on Howe Street.

Officers said they found a man who matched the description given by the witness in possession of cell phones, scratch tickets and sunglasses.

John Patti, 22, of Manchester was arrested and also charged with receiving stolen property and prowling.

Deputy Gross mysteriously disappeared when he went to Barre to collect $250 from a man found liable in a civil matter. The next day the deputies car was found in a wooded area east of Barre. The man...